Feb 16th (Week 9 Sapa Vietnam)

The final two days of outreach. We are sitting in our hotel room in Sapa (Lao Cai on the map) under the covers with our electric blankets on. Jenny and Ryan have come down with some stomach upset so we are just taking it easy before our five hour drive home tomorrow. The timing is perfect. We just spent the past two days out and about (I can't say exactly what we were doing until we get back). Sapa is at about 7000ft and completely socked in with fog. It’s about 10C, cool and very damp. The fog is a fine mist that soaks you when you walk around. If it wasn't for the perfect sunny weather we had on Sunday we wouldn't know that we are at the top of a mountain overlooking the Cat Cat tribe of Northern Vietnam set amongst terraced rice paddy fields. I have heard that these people are the lowest class and have been forced away, over the centuries, out of China (about 30 miles from here) into the mountains and up the slopes where they have managed to carve out an existence. They sell trinkets in the town of Sapa which feels and looks a lot like Kathmandu. The Cat Cat tradition is to marry off daughters as young as eight years old and there are girls carrying babies around that can’t be more than 14 years old. 
We have had a few very busy days including church on Sunday and some teaching yesterday. Tomorrow we return to Hanoi for a day and a half of debriefing our experience here and in Kona and what we think we will do when we get back home.
We can look forward to some time relaxing in central and then southern Vietnam where the temperatures are 22C in Danang and 34C in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).We will go out to Can Tho in the Mekong river delta and then go over to Phu Quoc.

And yes, today is my 50th birthday! Hooray! We will maybe go for an Indian tomorrow night with our Vietnamese friends (hoping that Jenny and Ryan feel better) and we have fish and chips lined up for Thursday night which is my official birthday dinner. My 50th is a bit like the "where will I be on Dec 31st 1999" question.  So here I am, northern Vietnam, jobless and following Jesus. Never would have guessed it in a million years!!

Next blog entry will be from Danang.

Amazing view!